Tea Party activists warn of creeping socialism and a Washington controlled by despots seeking to strip away basic American freedoms. They harshly criticize Barack Obama and attack federal health care and Social Security -- programs that help tens of millions of Americans.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Tea Party activists warn of creeping socialism and a Washington controlled by despots seeking to strip away basic American freedoms. They harshly criticize Barack Obama and attack federal health care and Social Security -- programs that help tens of millions of Americans.
Many believe the Tea Party is a unique response to today's political climate, perhaps a reaction to America's first black president. But "Recycled," an article in the new Mother Jones magazine, says the Tea Party movement is nothing new.
"It's what happens whenever a Democrat takes over the White House," the report contends. Examples:
After Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid out his New Deal reform programs, the ultra-conservative American Liberty League was formed in 1934.
After John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, the John Birch Society flourished, alleging that Communists were infiltrating the federal government. Birchers distributed "Wanted for Treason" leaflets bearing photographs of Kennedy and claiming he supported "Communist-inspired racial riots" and "consistently appointed anti-Christians to federal office."
When Bill Clinton ended the Reagan Revolution by becoming president in 1993, talk radio shows began promoting "Arkansas Project" conspiracy theories alleging his questionable financial dealings and sexual trysts, a project funded by Pennsylvania Republican billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. It snowballed into the futile Whitewater probe and the failed Republican effort to remove Clinton.
Today, Mother Jones contends, Tea Party activists "aren't a fringe part of the conservative movement. They are the conservative movement."
Talk radio and Fox News helped Tea Partiers expand their influence far more rapidly than earlier movements. Charismatic leaders like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck also helped promote Tea Party ideology.
An April New York Times poll reported the Tea Party movement attracted some level of support from 18 percent of the population.
But in this fall's elections, the magazine says, Tea Partiers have only three "genuine" candidates running for U.S. Senate: Sharon Angle in Nevada, Ron Paul in Kentucky and Nikki Haley in South Carolina.
Last year, Tea Party activists backed Scott Brown in his successful campaign to fill the unexpired term of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. But after he won, Brown turned out to be a rather moderate Republican.
Tea Party activists may add drama to upcoming elections, but if the historic pattern recurs, their influence is unlikely to grow much further. If America is lucky, the Tea Party will fade like the Liberty League, John Birch Society and GOP-funded witchhunt against Clinton.
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Tea Party activists warn of creeping socialism and a Washington controlled by despots seeking to strip away basic American freedoms. They harshly criticize Barack Obama and attack federal health care and Social Security -- programs that help tens of millions of Americans.
Many believe the Tea Party is a unique response to today's political climate, perhaps a reaction to America's first black president. But "Recycled," an article in the new Mother Jones magazine, says the Tea Party movement is nothing new.
"It's what happens whenever a Democrat takes over the White House," the report contends. Examples:
After Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid out his New Deal reform programs, the ultra-conservative American Liberty League was formed in 1934. After John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960, the John Birch Society flourished, alleging that Communists were infiltrating the federal government. Birchers distributed "Wanted for Treason" leaflets bearing photographs of Kennedy and claiming he supported "Communist-inspired racial riots" and "consistently appointed anti-Christians to federal office." When Bill Clinton ended the Reagan Revolution by becoming president in 1993, talk radio shows began promoting "Arkansas Project" conspiracy theories alleging his questionable financial dealings and sexual trysts, a project funded by Pennsylvania Republican billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife. It snowballed into the futile Whitewater probe and the failed Republican effort to remove Clinton.Today, Mother Jones contends, Tea Party activists "aren't a fringe part of the conservative movement. They are the conservative movement."
Talk radio and Fox News helped Tea Partiers expand their influence far more rapidly than earlier movements. Charismatic leaders like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck also helped promote Tea Party ideology.
An April New York Times poll reported the Tea Party movement attracted some level of support from 18 percent of the population.
But in this fall's elections, the magazine says, Tea Partiers have only three "genuine" candidates running for U.S. Senate: Sharon Angle in Nevada, Ron Paul in Kentucky and Nikki Haley in South Carolina.
Last year, Tea Party activists backed Scott Brown in his successful campaign to fill the unexpired term of the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass. But after he won, Brown turned out to be a rather moderate Republican.
Tea Party activists may add drama to upcoming elections, but if the historic pattern recurs, their influence is unlikely to grow much further. If America is lucky, the Tea Party will fade like the Liberty League, John Birch Society and GOP-funded witchhunt against Clinton.
